


Thunderstorms and Sleepless Nights

by StormJay



Category: The Property of Hate
Genre: Astraphobia (phobia of storms), Comfort, Dial gets the cuddles, Dial has ptsd, Dial needs cuddles, F/M, Post-Canon, Storms are scary when you used to be made of metal, Stormy Weather, comforting durring a storm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23030272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormJay/pseuds/StormJay
Summary: When a storm wakes Dial up, he cant get back to sleep. Luckily someone picks this up and helps him.
Relationships: Dial/Oc
Kudos: 7





	Thunderstorms and Sleepless Nights

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Sunny is not my oc. She's owned by a discord friend. I've taken to writing her a bit. [with permission, of course]  
> 2.This is kinda set in a shared au I have with said discord friend and some others. Its a little confusing and this ship kinda just,,,,, happened.

Dial _hated_ thunderstorms, but alas, he could not control the weather. So they still happened. Now, if it had been day time and everyone was awake, then maybe he’d have less of an issue with it. But no. It just _had_ to start storming when he and everyone was asleep, jerking him awake and _keeping_ him awake. So here he was, finding himself sitting on the living room sofa with the tv on a low volume as to not wake the others up. He was trying to focus on it - it was one of the kids shows, something to do with different types of bugs? He couldn’t tell because he was being distracted every few minutes when he heard thunder or saw a flash of lightning. It tore his attention from the TV to the window. Perhaps it was an irrational fear now, but last time he had been outside in one he had been a walking lightning rod…. Hate had taken advantage of that when he had failed her. It always took him far too long to recover, and every time he thought he’d suffer damage that tinker wouldn’t be able to fix. He found himself curling up into his blanket and whimpering slightly at the thought of being struck again. He knew he’d never be living it down if Rgb - or any of the others really- saw him like this. Look at him, a 30 something year old man cowering in fear over _thunder_ , aka, a little kid fear that you’re supposed to get over. By the time an episode had ended, Dial was completely covered by the blanket, eyes and all. All that could be seen of the quivering man was like, the tip of his nose. Which meant he didn’t see when someone walked into the room, causing him to jump when they turned the living room lights on. “Dial? What the hell are you doing out here? It’s 2 am. You should be sleeping, not watching Hero’s tv show.” Shit, how was Dial going to explain to Sunny that, ‘hey, I’m terrified of thunderstorms and can literally not fall asleep during one due to trauma’? 

“I, er, I just wanted to be sure it didn’t contain anything a kid shouldn’t see, is all!” . . . That was _the_ **_stupidest_** excuse he had ever given someone, and they both knew it.

“Ah, yes. Because a show about _bugs_ , on a _kids channel_ is going to suddenly contain a murder or a sex scene.” The sarcasm in the woman’s tone was only exacerbated by the roll of the eyes she gave. “Listen, we both know nothing in that show is worse than what she’s seen before. Now, why the hell are you up at 2 am watching a show about bugs.”

“Well…..” he found himself sighing and retreating into the blanket more. Mumbling his sentences in a way where he knew that she couldn’t understand. He kind of expected her to question what he said, and guess what. She did. 

“What did you say, Dial?”

“....I said I can’t sleep, that’s all. I’ll come join you again soon. don’t worry.” He gave her a weak grin that he could only hope was convincing, though deep inside he knew she wasn’t fooled at all. _Especially_ when he jumped to the other end of the sofa, away from the window, at the sudden flash of lightning that decided now was a good time to appear. He could only offer an awkward grin when he noticed Sunny glancing between the window he had locked his eyes on and himself. “Ah, hm, yes, I _might_ have been a little startled by the lightning-“

“You’re scared of the storm, aren’t you.”

“H-hey now, lets not jump to conclusions so hastily-“ Dial would _never_ admit to the yelp that had left him when the thunder finally arrived, leaving Sunny as the only witness to it and the whimpering that followed as he huddled up more in the blanket. “O-okay perhaps I’m a _little_ scared of it- t-there weren’t many storms back in the world of make believe, so I kinda forgot how loud they were. Plus it didn’t really have lighting and thunder, rained like hell tho, cats and dogs, ‘m tellin’ ya! Ya’d have to be more careful about having a _poodle_ landing on ya then steppin’ in a _puddle!”_ He was lying, of course. There were storms. And they were the same as they were here. However Sunny didn’t need to know that. 

“You’re lying again.”

“Dammit.” How he forgot how perceptive she was about how he acted when he lied, he didn’t know. Yet he did, and now she was looking him over in that ‘not obviously concerned but you can tell she is if you know her well enough’ way. And frankly he kind of hated it in this case. He wasn’t a kid. Yet here he was, acting like one. Either way, that didn’t stop him from withdrawing more into his little cocoon as she walked back to their room. . . And returned? With her own blanket? He kinda watched her as she went and turned the lights off again . . . and joined him on the sofa. “Sunny, don’t you have-“

“Dial.” That shut him up, and she hadn’t even used the warning tone. Then again there was _another_ flash and rumble at the same time as she pulled him close so they were laying on the sofa with the tv going on. The seconds between the lightning and thunder were getting shorter. And Dial could only cling onto the woman once they were comfortable, whimpering slightly as the storm got louder. “Try and get some sleep, alright? I’ll leave the tv on so you’ll have something other than the storm to focus on.” Dial just cuddled closer in response, eyes locked on the window. Seeing he wasn’t really focused on her words, Sunny ran a hand through his hair. He tensed at first, before relaxing when she did it again. “That helping at all, Dial?”

“Mmhmm,” he was still jumpy every time the lightning flashed or the thunder roared, but it wasn’t as bad, instead he was trying to focus on the feeling of her hand in his hair and the faint chattering on the tv. He found it comforting, to feel her so close to him. To listen to her faint breathing. The thunder and lighting made it hard to sleep, but when she turned the tv up just loud enough to help. . . . He found himself starting to drift off. Sunny running a hand through his hair and the tv murmuring. Sunny simply smiled as the ginger fell asleep while cuddling up against her.


End file.
